Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of computing systems, and, more particularly, to processor design.
Computer processors continue to advance and increase in complexity. Instead of merely executing instructions and performing other related operations, processors can also be designed to monitor various aspects of their operation. Processors can be designed to modify how various operations are performed based on the monitoring of their operations. For example, various techniques can be used to manage a processor cache, such as “first in first out” and “least recently used” techniques. However, each technique can perform differently under varying operating conditions such that in some scenarios a first technique may perform better than a second, while in other scenarios the second technique performs better than the first. Processors can be designed to monitor such events, and if a certain threshold is reached, switch to using a different technique.